Anti-dynasty ban up to second degree kin gains support in House

Many members of the House of Representatives are inclined to support the version of the anti-dynasty bill that seeks to ban relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity and affinity from running or occupying an elective post within the same constituency at the same time, a House leader said on Wednesday.

House suffrage and electoral reforms panel chair and Lanao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Zia Adiong was referring to House Bill 6771 filed by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos.

Earlier, the House conducted public consultations on at least 24 pending anti-political dynasty measures that propose banning relatives from the second to fourth degrees of consanguinity or affinity from running or occupying an elective post at the same time.

“Our goal at the committee level is to craft an agreeable, constitutionally sound anti-political dynasty law that can gather broad support in Congress and endure legal challenges. We want to make House Bill 6771 our working draft because in terms of procedure, it has more than 100 co-authors,” Adiong said in a press conference. 

“In terms of numbers and procedure-wise, since this version ang merong pinakamaraming support, ‘yun talaga ‘yung magiging working draft. Because essentially, for you to be able to pass it on third reading, you have to have the numbers. That’s practicality,” he added.

(In terms of numbers and procedure-wise, since this version has the most support, this will be the working draft. Because essentially, for you to be able to pass it on third reading, you have to have the numbers. That’s practicality.)

House suffrage and electoral reforms panel chairperson Zia Adiong of Lanao del Sur says ban on relatives running for/occupying public office at the same time up to second degree of consagunity, affinity is gathering the most support among anti-political dynasty bills @gmanews pic.twitter.com/sAL3WWnODE

— Llanesca T. Panti (@llanescajourno) February 25, 2026

Adiong noted that the ban on relatives within the second degree of consanguinity and affinity from running and occupying a public post at the same time is already provided for in the Sangguniang Kabataan law and in the Bangsamoro Organic Law that established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“What we are actually trying to achieve here is to have another anti-political dynasty law that will be implementable. Setting it up to a second-degree prohibition is actually balancing it out because we cannot really penalize the entire family just because they have the same surname,” he said.

“We do not want concentration of power. We have to level the playing field, so others can also join. We also need to balance it out because other relatives may also be part of different localities. You cannot automatically suspend, for example, their willingness to participate in the electoral process and be a part of public service,” Adiong added.

He noted that pushing for a ban up to the fourth degree or allowing one member of the entire family to enter public service, regardless of the constituency covered, will be a form of penalty rather than reform.

“The intention of the bill is not only to be legal, but also to be practically reasonable,” Adiong said.

1-Tahanan Party-list Rep. Nathaniel Oducado agreed, noting that prohibiting relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity from running for or occupying public office at the same time will already affect at least 70% of incumbent municipal and city officials, based on previous academic studies.

“We don’t know yet how much of Congress will be affected, but that figure is an indication that the emerging second-degree ban is not weak because it will already cover a lot of positions,” Oducado said.

Cagayan de Oro City 1st District Rep. Lordan Suan, who filed a bill that extended the ban up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, said he is willing to vote for a bill on a second-degree ban if that version emerges as the common ground for House members. 

“We need to find a workable common ground. And I think this bill is the most workable of them all,” Suan said.

He added that limiting it to the second degree will allow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to efficiently execute its mandate in resolving future cases of possible violation of the anti-dynasty measure once it is enacted into law.

“The Comelec receives certificates of candidacies in October, then prints the ballots by December or January. With that time frame, it will be difficult for Comelec to determine if there is a violation of the anti-dynasty law,” Suan said. 

“I cannot pursue a perfect bill based on my preference but ultimately, it won’t get passed. It is better that we choose a bill that will give us some progress, rather than decades of nothingness,” he added. — JMA, GMA Integrated News